USC Architecture Brigade May 2015 Honduras

Start Date: May 23, 2015 11:00 PM
End Date: May 29, 2015 11:00 PM

Global Brigades offers 7-day Architecture Brigades throughout the year in Honduras. The Architecture Program strives to improve in-home infrastructure and economic production in Global Brigades’ communities by designing and constructing small scale or in-home projects such as chicken coops, roofs, and additional rooms that will enhance community members’ health, quality-of-life and income. By improving their homes, community members can better prevent disease and maintain a positive mental state. Similarly, families choosing to build infrastructure for economic ventures that can generate more income, which could theoretically be used to independently enhance their living space. These important projects are both designed and built by student volunteers in collaboration with community members on their 7 days trips to Honduras. Students volunteering on Architecture Brigades participate in either infrastructure design or constructions. On the initial Design Brigade, they consult with community members and draft blueprints for the in-home infrastructure or small-scale economic development projects sought by the family. On subsequent Build Brigades, students construct the projects alongside skilled Honduran masons and community members and ultimately create the in-home infrastructure needed to improve health, quality-of-life, and income. Student volunteers teach community members the construction techniques necessary to maintain the projects and ensure that they will continue to serve local families well into the future.

Environmental: Global Brigades offers 7-day Environmental Brigades throughout the year in Panama. Environmental Brigades provide student volunteers with the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in environmental management and education by empowering community members in rural communities. During brigades, volunteers spend time with environmental committees to better understand the region's pressing environmental concerns and potential for improvement. Through interactive workshops and the implementation of physical projects, student volunteers provide the education and physical assistance necessary for these families to sustain long-term behavioral change, which will benefit the well-being of not only themselves but their surrounding environment as well. Subsequent brigades build on each other and therefore, projects are continued through successive phases year after year. Between brigades, our in-country team maintains relationships with our community leaders to ensure the continuation of projects started by brigades and to provide follow-up on community members’ feedback as well as next steps.